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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25829632">Ships in the Night</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/lolcano/pseuds/lolcano'>lolcano</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003) - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Domestic Clones, Friendship, Gen, a clone experiences ordinary everyday life, just people talking</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 03:02:21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>9,720</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25829632</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/lolcano/pseuds/lolcano</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A high-schooler from Coruscant and a clone trooper meet. Their time together is short, and yet both are changed by the encounter. </p><p>Anyway this is just a self-indulgent fic I wrote because I wanted to see a clone interact with an ordinary civilian ahaha. XD</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Original Clone Trooper Character &amp; Original Civilian Character</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“I saw a clone today at the library,” Anya said at dinner one night. Her brother didn’t even look up from his meal; he just scoffed.</p><p>“You’re making that up,” he said, raising a forkful of fish to his face, “Clones don’t read.”</p><p>“Well, this one can,” she said, annoyed. Why did Vaska always have to trivialize everything she said? Just because he had graduated from some fancy ivy league school, he thought he was better than everyone!</p><p>“I didn’t say they<em> can’t</em> read,” said Vaska, in his infuriatingly calm ‘I’m so much smarter than you’ voice, “I just said they <em>don’t</em>. Obviously they can read. But why would one go to the library?”</p><p>“That’s exactly what<em> I</em> was wondering,” said Anya testily. The only reason she had mentioned it in the first place was because it was unusual.</p><p>“It is unusual,” her mother agreed, “But good for him! Even clones deserve an education.”</p><p>“Books will get you far in life,” agreed her father, “Don’t you forget it.”</p><p>Anya signed. Her parents always managed to turn everything into a lesson about how “education is important” and that she should “stay in school” if she wanted to succeed in life. As if she didn’t already know that!  </p><p>“Speaking of clones,” her father said, “Have you heard about the Republic victory in the * system? Glad they finally managed that; if only they had secured the air base earlier. Would have gone a lot faster.”</p><p>“What a brutal battle,” her mother sighed.</p><p>Clones were always playing in the holovids these days, in the news and in the commercials, rows and rows of identical troopers marching by, heading off to win glorious victories for the republic. Her father liked to watch them, listening to the latest news from the front and commenting in disgruntled tones how they should have done things differently. She and Vaska liked to joke that if only he’d been elected chancellor the war would have been over ages ago. But alas, he only worked at a holonet company and so the battles raged on.</p><p>As for Anya, she knew about the war of course, and that they were fighting in it, but unlike her father she didn’t really care. She didn’t listen to the news or watch the holovids; she had more important things to think about. For example: her teacher hadn’t liked her proposal for her upcoming literature essay, and now she had to completely rethink her whole approach. Literature had been her best subject in middle school, but now that she was taking the advanced course at one of the best high schools in the prefecture it suddenly wasn’t so easy.</p><p>Her father often said that school shouldn’t distract her from learning what happened in the rest of the world; but her father also demanded that she get perfect marks on all her tests and assignments too and frankly she didn’t have time for both.</p><p>So Anya let her father rant about the war efforts while in the back of her head she tried to think of the best way to revise her literature proposal.</p><p>“If you meet that clone again,” her father said off-handedly, “You should thank him for his service. We wouldn’t even have a Republic if it weren’t for their bravery and courage.”</p><p>“I will,” said Anya.</p><p>--------------</p><p>But she doubted she would see him again.</p><p>And sure enough, the library was pretty much empty when Anya arrived that evening after school. There were a few people browsing the holonet and a homeless man sleeping in a chair and the librarian was helping a Bothan at the front counter fill out some forms in quiet murmurs; other than that the library was empty, and there certainly weren’t any clones.</p><p>When Anya was younger, she had spent entire days holed up in the library, devouring fiction. She had always felt at peace here, the air heavy with stillness, the hum of electric lights and rows of colourful shelves adding a mesmerizing rhythm to the silence. Now whenever she needed to concentrate, she found herself returning here, to her quiet desk in the corner by the window where she could work all day and never be interrupted.</p><p>And these days, she had a lot to concentrate on. Her happy days reading fiction were now over – she was a grown-up now, and had to deal with grown-up concerns. She needed to secure her future and get into a good university, and that meant she needed to study.</p><p>There was of course, that stupid literature essay, and also the upcoming chemistry test, and a math sheet to work on, plus they were counting on her to write an article for the journalism club, not to mention that her group for civics class really needed to decide on a topic for the upcoming presentation….</p><p>Thus, her work was cut out for her.</p><p>She finished up the math worksheet and was flipping through her copy of “Of Womprats and Wookies” trying to figure out the interplay between societal expectations of the main character and how this had influenced the tragic denouement of the novel when she noticed the clone had come back.</p><p>She had been concentrating so hard on her work that she had not noticed him come in, but there he was, sitting not to far away from her in a desk in the corner of the room. He was unmistakably a clone, but was it the same one as yesterday?</p><p>She thought it must be, because just like last time his arm was in a sling. It was unlikely enough to meet a single clone in the library, let alone two who both happened to have a broken arm. He was wearing the unmistakable clone trooper armour, but it was painted a minty green rather than the red she was used to seeing around Coruscant. His helmet was off. It was weird seeing a clone without the helmet. It made him look… like an ordinary human, almost. Not like the holovids at all.</p><p>He was reading something. He had a small pile of books at the table but she couldn’t make out the titles. The one he was reading at the moment was massive. She didn’t even know they had books that big at the library. Was he reading a dictionary or something?</p><p>He looked up briefly and she whipped her gaze away, not wanting to be caught staring. She turned back to “Of Womprats and Wookies” and pretended she was engrossed in the book. But she was so distracted she couldn’t have read it even if she tried.</p><p>Should she go up and talk to him? Anya wasn’t typically a shy person, but people didn’t go to a library because they wanted to chat. It would be rude to bother him, wouldn’t it?</p><p>But even after surreptitiously snapping several photos (that would show Vaska!) and sending them to all her friends, she didn’t feel satisfied. They were just going to ask what he was doing there, and she wouldn’t know the answer. And she <em>had</em> promised her father to thank him, hadn’t she?</p><p>That’s it! She was never going to get a chance like this again. Maybe she could even interview him for the school paper. She just had to talk to him! She stood up before she could overthink things and walked over to the clone trooper.</p><p>At first she thought he hadn’t noticed her because he didn’t even look up from his book. But before she could say anything he asked in a low tone, “Do you need something from me, Miss?”</p><p>“Oh, uh …” she stuttered. Maybe overthinking things would have been helpful after all, because now that she was here, she didn’t actually know what to say. She’d heard that clones were genetically engineered to follow orders and be perfect soldiers. All they thought about was war, or so she’d heard. Were they even capable of a normal conversation?</p><p>So she said the first thing that came to her mind and instantly regretted it.</p><p>“You’re a clone, aren’t you?”</p><p>“Yeah,” he said, in the same tone of voice you’d use to say that the sky on Naboo is blue. He looked at her funny. AAAGGH what had she done?! Just because he was a clone didn’t give her any excuse to be rude! She was being totally insensitive! It was obvious he was a clone!</p><p>Trying to save herself from her blunder, Anya stammered out a quick, “Thank you for your service.”</p><p>“Oh, uh…You’re welcome,” he said.</p><p>“So what are you reading?” she asked, desperately starting a new line of conversation. She noticed that the clone looked almost the same age as her brother – a weird thought she didn’t have time to unpack right now.</p><p>“Hm?” said the clone. He stared up at her with wary brown eyes. “Oh, it’s an encyclopaedia.”</p><p>“An encyclopaedia?” repeated Anya. She stared at the enormous book in front of him. It looked… really boring.</p><p>“Yeah?”</p><p>“I-Is it interesting?” Anya said, trying to peak at the open pages. From what she could tell he had been reading an article on fungi.</p><p>The clone shrugged. “Eh, it’s alright,” he said. He didn’t seem very enthusiastic about it.</p><p>“I see... Well, why don’t you read something more exciting?” said Anya, “I know! Have you ever heard of the C* trilogy?”</p><p>“Never heard of it.”</p><p>“Really?!” she exclaimed. She wasn’t that surprised – it was a little bit obscure, but even so it was her favourite series of all times. She and her friends were <em>obsessed</em> with it! They’d even had a dinner party based on the food from the novel.</p><p>“Well, it’s about this family... they don’t actually do that much but – “ she launched herself into a long and rambling explanation, but when she noticed the slightly puzzled look on the clone’s face she forced herself to stop. Her friends had looked at her the same way when she first started ranting about the series. “Uh well, it’s a little hard to explain,” she said ruefully, “But I promise you, it’s really good! I have all the books, so I could lend it to you if you like.” That’s how she had gotten her friends hooked too.</p><p>“Oh,” said the clone, “Uh… thanks. But I’m fine with the encyclopaedia.”</p><p>“Really?” said Anya, not entirely convinced, “Why?”</p><p>“What do you mean why?” he said defensively, “You never know when a thorough knowledge of uh – “ He glanced at the article above fungi. “ - funerary traditions might come in handy.”</p><p>“Yeah? How so?”</p><p>“Uh…” He had to stop and think. “Well, there was this one time on the moons of B*,” he said at last, “If we’d have known…” He trailed off abruptly.</p><p>“What?” asked Anya, thinking he was just gathering his thoughts. But instead he just looked away.</p><p>“Nevermind,” he said, “Shouldn’t be telling war stories to little girls like you.”</p><p>“I’m not a little girl!” said Anya. She’d heard that clones were considered adults at only 10 years old, so she was probably older than him anyways.</p><p>“I shouldn’t share military details with teenage girls either,” he said.</p><p>“I understand,” said Anya, when she saw that he wasn’t going to give in, “Sorry for bringing it up.”</p><p>“Well,” he said, after a brief pause, “It was nice talking to you.”</p><p>“Yeah, you too,” replied Anya automatically, and nodded him a polite goodbye, even though she hadn’t even <em>begun</em> to ask him all the questions she had wanted to ask. What had happened to his arm? What was he doing in the library? Do clones often read encyclopaedias? But she knew enough about conversations to realize that this one was over, whether she liked it or not. He was clearly finished talking. It would be rude to press anymore.</p><p>He returned to his book, and she went back to her desk and resumed her studies, millions of questions swirling unanswered at the back of her mind.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I too, have so many questions. Like, do they even have libraries on Coruscant?? I honestly have no idea how this society operates. Like if everything is digital or holographic or whatever, why would they still have paper books? I guess ultimately the answer is: “Why not?” It is my story and I can have things however I want!!<br/>Please don’t think too much about it. XD</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“CT-8342” the robotic nurse intoned, “Congratulations. You are clear to go.”</p><p>Clone Trooper 8342 nodded and got off the bed, flexing his newly released arm from the cast experimentally. Stiff, but usable, he determined. He’d have to go to the shooting range later to see how it handled.</p><p>The medical droid was ignoring him now; standing in front of a screen and peering at the complicated arrays of information it displayed. He had always thought it was funny that they spent all their time abroad shooting droids, and then they go to the hospital just to get patched up by one. Ironic.</p><p>He headed out of the medbay contemplating the many absurdities of life when a familiar voice cut into his thoughts.</p><p>“Hey! Egghead!”</p><p>It was silly that his first thought at the sound of his brother’s voice was annoyance. It shouldn’t have been – but throughout his entire life it always seemed to be the case that whenever he was trying to think, Hammer - loud, boisterous Hammer - would always come along to ruin it.</p><p>But he didn’t want to be angry at Hammer right now. He didn’t deserve it. Anyone else would have given up on him back there, but his old batchmate had saved his life by dragging him all the way back to the first-aid station. It had been a stupid move really, but Hammer had never been the brightest tool in the shed. </p><p>“Hey,” he said, “I didn’t know you were back.”</p><p>“Got in this morning!” said Hammer, clapping a friendly hand on his back and looking him up and down. “You feeling all right? You look a lot better.”</p><p>“Good as new”</p><p>"Great!" he said, grinning his familiar trademark sharp-toothed grin, “Well, now that that's settled, let me tell you, you sure missed out on some exciting stuff. You won’t believe what happened! You remember those animals that were always climbing over the supplies? Well, Wiki said that their milk is considered to be a delicacy in some parts, so Indie dared Ash to try it, so he and Merrick went and caught one. And they brought it into the camp and tried to milk the dumb thing, but the milk squirted <em>everywhere</em>, and it just so happened that the captain was walking by – it was the <em>funniest</em> thing I ever saw! And then - ”</p><p>So much for a peaceful afternoon. Hammer just didn’t know how to shut up. But although Egghead didn’t want to admit it, he had missed his batchmates rambling.</p><p>The two of them went down to the shooting range together, Hammer still talking and Egghead only half-paying attention. After a few good rounds, Egghead met up with the rest of his squad, and they insisted on going out together for drinks.</p><p>In the dim light of the bar they drank shots and exchanged stories while Egghead sat in the corner and listened. He wasn’t much for parties. But they had survived, and that at least was something worth celebrating. Nothing like the battle from two months ago, when almost all of Egghead’s division had been wiped out.</p><p>“Have a nice vacation on Coruscant?” asked Des, interrupting his reveries, “Man, we thought you were a goner.”</p><p>“No kidding,” said Arrow, who wasn’t actually in their squadron but was always ready for an excuse to go drinking, “Tried to patch you up, but there wasn’t much I could do. You looked pretty awful when they sent you away.”</p><p>“Felt pretty awful too,” said Egghead.</p><p>“I can imagine.”</p><p>Des and Arrow started filling him in on what he had missed. Some of the stuff he had already heard from Hammer, but he considered Des to be a more accurate source than his batchmate, who had a tendency to exaggerate.</p><p>“Then Wiki came up with this <em>crazy</em> strategy - ”</p><p>“Yeah, I thought it was nuts at first, but it really worked!”</p><p>“The man’s brilliant!”</p><p>It was true – Wiki seemed to know everything. No matter where they went he could pull up some obscure fact about the local fauna out of nowhere, or in the most desperate situation he could come up with the most clever and effective strategy anyone could think of. Egghead wished he could be like that too.</p><p>After all, <em>Wiki </em>probably wouldn’t have stepped on a landmine like a moron – he would have recognized it from 10 feet off and disarmed it with one hand tied behind his back. Wiki had come up with an amazing strategy to save the day, while he, Egghead, had only succeeded in almost getting himself killed.</p><p>And yet, once he had been that person. The one they had all looked up to. He had been the smartest of all his batch-mates – they had gone to him for strategies. But as he met more and more people, all of them smarter than any of his batchmates had been, he couldn’t help but wonder if maybe his accomplishment wasn’t quite as impressive as he had once believed. Maybe he wasn’t ‘the smart one’ after all. But then who was he?</p><p>So he went to the library and tried to read, tried to become smarter, and yet the whole time he wondered if he wasn’t just faking it. Wiki seemed to know everything, and yet even after so many days, Egghead had only managed to make it up to F in the encyclopaedia.  </p><p>“Seriously though,” said Des, “How was Coruscant?”</p><p>“It was fine. I read a lot. Hey, did you know that there’s a mushroom on Aldaraan that is so poisonous – “</p><p>“Yeesh,” Des interrupted with a laugh, “Come on, you’re on Coruscant, and all you do is read?”</p><p>“Typical Egghead,” said Arrow.</p><p>“Yep,” he said, “That’s me.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Yes, Wiki is named after Wikipaedia. And yes, that’s anachronistic. It’s hard to come up with good names, okay? xD<br/>Don’t worry about it. XD<br/>Sorry for this short and weird chapter....</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Anya had managed to message the other members of her group for her Civics project, and they agreed to meet together at the library after school. She had kind of been hoping to see the clone trooper again. In some ways, she had almost been expecting him to show up. Seeing someone once was just a coincidence, but twice in a row was a pattern. And the third time, they say, is the charm.</p><p>But whatever reason had brought him to the library over the past few days must have changed, because he wasn’t there. Not when they arrived and not when they left. Even though they stayed almost until supper time working on their project, there had been no sign of him.</p><p>What had happened?</p><p>“Maybe he got shipped out,” said her friend Shirin. Anya had told her all about her adventures with the clone, and now they talked about it as they took the bus home together. “He’s probably in the Outer Rim by now.”</p><p>“Maybe,” said Anya uncertainly, “He had a broken arm though. I think he was on shore leave or something while he recovered. That’s the only explanation I can think of.”</p><p>“So his arm got better and he had to go back to his team.”</p><p>“Yeah, I guess,” agreed Anya reluctantly.</p><p>But the next day she found herself in the library again, her gaze lingering on the corner where she had seen the clone before. Usually this time of the week she would go straight home to practise the kloo horn (the upcoming senior concert band recital was only a few weeks away), but…. Well, she told herself that she needed to finish up her essay.</p><p>So Anya sat down at an empty desk and banged out the first draft of her literature essay, watching the door to the library out of the corner of her eye. The quiet solitude of the library, which Anya had always enjoyed, now began to feel a little lonely. Even the homeless man wasn’t here today. The only other guest that passed through the door was a large hairy mammoth-like alien with some kind of little winged rodent on its shoulder. Anya barely paid them any attention. She was used to seeing unusual looking people on Coruscant.</p><p> She sighed, wondering if she should just go home. Shirin was probably right. If he hadn’t shown up yesterday, it meant he was probably gone. Why did she even care anyways? She was just curious, she supposed. The Clone Wars had never really seemed real to her before. But now it was closer than she had ever imagined.</p><p>In the distance she heard jabbering. The two aliens from earlier seemed to have gotten themselves in a predicament. The large mammoth creature had gotten stuck in between the aisles (he was clearly too large for them in the first place) and he stubbornly held a book in his trunk as his friend tried to pull him free.</p><p>Anya got up to help, but just as she drew near the mammoth pushed himself free with a sudden jerk. The shelves on either side of him tottered under the sudden assault, and much to Anya’s alarm she realized that she was suddenly directly in the path of a tumbling pile of books.</p><p>--------------------------------</p><p>“Hey Miss. Miss. Are you alright?”</p><p>Anya groaned and opened her eyes. Her head hurt. She was staring up at a white wall, which she eventually realized was the ceiling. A blurry face spun into focus above her. Or rather, a helmet.</p><p>“Hey, you’re…” she began, then frowned and tried to push herself up into a sitting position. There were books half-covering her legs.</p><p>“Careful,” said the voice. It belonged to the clone from yesterday. Or <em>was</em> it the clone from yesterday? He wasn’t wearing a cast anymore and had his helmet on, so maybe it was a different one. How were you supposed to tell if they all looked the same?</p><p>“You don’t have any external injuries,” he was saying, “but I’m worried you might have a concussion. Can you tell me what your name is?”</p><p>“Anya,” she said, “Anya Andromeveitch.”</p><p>“What’s the date?”</p><p>“Umm… Thursday? I forget the number.”</p><p>“Don’t worry about it. Where are you right now?”</p><p>“The library.”</p><p>“Who’s the current chancellor?”</p><p>“Uh…” she said, not sure why he was asking, “Sheev Palpatine.”</p><p>“Do you remember what happened to you?”</p><p>“The bookshelf fell on me, I think.”</p><p>The clone looked her up and down appraisingly. “Okay,” he said, “Your response time is good. Still - ”</p><p>He kept talking, but Anya ignored him and looked around trying to gather her bearings. The mammoth-like alien had brought his book to the front counter and was waiting placidly for the librarian to sign it out. The librarian, however, just glared at him and went over to clean up the disaster zone. The little winged alien was swooping around picking up books and trying to help, jabbering in some language Anya did not know.</p><p>She stood up, only feeling a little bit woozy. She stood still for a few moments, closing her eyes, then gradually her head began to clear. She walked over to her desk and groaned. This time however, it wasn’t a groan of pain. What kind of person gets knocked out by a <em>bookshelf</em>? Only absolute nerds! She was so embarrassed!</p><p>A little belatedly, Anya remembered that the clone was still saying something and tuned in just in time to catch the end of his sentence.</p><p>“ – right?” He paused and waited for her response.</p><p>“Uh….What?”</p><p>“I was saying, should I take you to the hospital?”</p><p>A hospital? Imagine! The doctor would ask what was wrong, and she’d have to admit she’d been brained by a book! She just wanted to go home and forget this ever happened.</p><p>“No way!” she said, “I don’t have time to go to the hospital. I uh…” she tried to think of a good excuse. “I’ve still got to practise the Kloo Horn tonight!”</p><p>The clone just frowned at her.</p><p>“What, you don’t know what a Kloo Horn is?” she said finally. It was after fungi in the encyclopaedia after all.</p><p>“Of course I know what a Kloo Horn is!” he said indignantly, “I’m just saying, you shouldn’t take head injuries trivially. I once knew a guy…” He trailed off again.</p><p>“Don’t worry about it,” she insisted, “I’ll be fine.” She started packing up her books. Why was she even still at the library so late? She should have been home hours ago.</p><p>“You alright dear?” asked the librarian. She had wandered over to them and stared at Anya with obvious concern. “I’m very sorry for the trouble.”</p><p>“I’m fine,” Anya repeated, “Do you need help cleaning up?”</p><p>“You? Help?” the clone laughed, “No, <em>you</em> should sit down. <em>I’ll</em> help.”</p><p>Together, the clone and the librarian managed to get the shelf upright again and started picking up books. Anya hovered in front of them as she watched, feeling a bit useless.</p><p>“Best to either go to the hospital or go home,” said the clone, when he noticed she was just standing there watching them, “Do you have a transport?</p><p>“I have a bus pass,” said Anya, “Do you know when the 265 comes by?”</p><p>“You just missed it dear,” fretted the librarian, “Next one doesn’t come for another 15 minutes. You ought to call your parents to pick you up.”</p><p>“By the time they get here, I might as well just take the bus,” Anya complained.</p><p>The librarian looking over at her worriedly, “I’d really feel better if you didn’t go home alone.”</p><p>“I’ll be <em>fine</em>,” said Anya.</p><p>“No, she’s right,” said the clone, “You shouldn’t go home alone.”</p><p>Finally they all reached a compromise, and Anya couldn’t believe it her good luck.</p><p>She couldn’t WAIT to see the stupefied expression on Vaska’s smug stupid face when he opened the door and realized she had been personally escorted home by an honest to goodness clone trooper!</p><p>He was going to LOSE IT!</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I almost stopped writing here because the circumstances were so contrived. Anyway, the good stuff starts next chapter, in my opinion.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Hey,” said the girl, “I never caught your name.”</p><p>They were outside the library now, on a long jutting promenade that connected several buildings before dropping off into mid-air. The girl trotted after him eagerly, looking up at him with that same doggoned curiosity from earlier.</p><p>“Umm… Everyone calls me Egghead,” he said. He really wasn’t sure why this girl seemed so interested in him.</p><p>“Because you like reading so much?” she asked.</p><p>“Something like that,” he said, as they arrived in front of the cruiser. It was big enough for two, but she’d have to hold on to him. He wondered, not for the first time, if he was making a mistake. He probably shouldn’t have even been in that library in the first place. He was straying dangerously far from his official duties.</p><p>But officially speaking, he reminded himself, the duty of every GAR soldier was to ensure the safety of Republic citizens. And concussions were no joke. He remembered the time that Jax had gotten hit in the head. He had insisted that he was fine then too.</p><p>He hadn’t been able to save Jax, but this time… He could at least make sure the girl was safe.</p><p>“Hold on tight,” he said, and felt her arms wrap around him. He tried not to think about it too much.</p><p>He guided the cruiser up and into the crowded air-lanes, becoming yet another piece in the intricate dance of Coruscant traffic. The sun had almost set, but the bright lights of the city still illuminated the world in a cacophony of colours. Headlights shot around him like shooting stars. He settled into the rhythm of the engine and almost didn’t hear the girl’s next words.</p><p>“You know where you’re going, right? I can give you directions.”</p><p>“It’s fine. I entered the address.”</p><p>He focused back on the air-lane, but she kept talking.</p><p>“So, I was wondering. Why were you at the library anyways?”</p><p>Why was everyone around him always so chatty? Did no one appreciate the joys of silent reflection?</p><p>“To get some peace and quiet” he said shortly.  </p><p>He didn’t really want to discuss his personal affairs with this random girl, but more than that, he didn’t really know the answer himself. Any sensible person would have just read using the holonet. Going to an actual, physical library felt almost frivolous – and nobody at Kamino valued frivolity.</p><p>And yet something had drawn him there. The novelty, maybe. He bet Wiki had never been in a real library before. And yet whatever the reason, he felt incapable of putting it into words.</p><p>She didn’t say anything after that and Egghead wondered if she just hadn’t heard him over the roar of the cruiser or that she’d taken the hint and decided to finally leave him alone. He let the silence between them deepen, filled in by the constant buzz of a sleepless city. The girl clung to him, her body warm against his back. It felt strange. She moved every now and then to push hair away from her face, only to have it whipped back in front of her again. Cruisers zipped by them, disappearing into the folds and facets of the never-ending layers of Coruscant.</p><p>He slowed the cruiser as they entered a narrow alley, the noise of the wind fading for a moment. He could hear her breathing behind him, so close that it tickled the back of his neck. No one had ever been so close to him before - other than his brothers, but that was just like being beside yourself. He glanced behind him briefly and saw her looking at the sprawling gleaming city with a rapturous expression on her face. She laughed as they soared out from the alley into a wide open expanse filled with flashing signs and people weaving back and forth. They flew on in silence.</p><p>He began to feel bad that he had cut off the conversation. Caspar used to always say that he needed to be more friendly. The girl had just been asking him a question. She was curious about him, and at first he had resented it, because he wasn’t some sort of curiosity to be ogled at. But now, he was growing curious about her too. Something had brought them together, to share this moment in the open air flying through a constellation of headlights.</p><p>And so since he was trying to be a friendlier person, when they stopped in relative quiet at an intersection, he asked her: “Hey uh… you doing okay?”</p><p>“Yep!” she said, “This is really great! I’ve never flown on one of these before.”</p><p>He wondered if that was normal or not. He realized that he had no idea how people on Coruscant actually lived. He frowned, realizing how out of his league he really was here. He had no idea what he was supposed to say to a civilian – no idea what to talk about other than the latest gossip from the front or funny stories from the mess hall. Luckily the girl kept chattering on her own, shouting to be heard over the rushing wind.</p><p>“My parents used to own a transport, but it was so old and clunky. This is way more exciting! I’ve been thinking about getting my driver’s licence, but I’ve been way too busy. Maybe I’ll try again during spring break.”</p><p>“Ah, I see,” said Egghead, trying to pretend that he knew what she was talking about. A driver’s licence? Spring break? Was he supposed to know these things?</p><p>“Why… are you busy?” he finally asked.</p><p>“Oh, it’s school stuff mostly,” she explained, and told him about her classes and all the assignments she had to do.</p><p>“It’s a good school, but the workload’s really heavy,” she admitted, “And the classes are hard too. Even literature’s more difficult. It used to be my best subject.”</p><p>“What happened?”</p><p>“Well… I don’t know. The thing is, I love reading, but now we’re reading all these really complicated books. Like there was this one about a girl who had cancer… And everyone else had all these smart and insightful ideas about it, but I didn’t even understand what the author was talking about. Sometimes I think I’m the only one who doesn’t get it.”</p><p> “Huh,” said Egghead.</p><p>“Sorry,” she said, her grip on him tightening, “I don’t mean to complain to you. I-I’ll get it eventually, I know.”</p><p>“No.. I know what you mean.”</p><p>They were quiet for a moment.</p><p>“Hey,” the girl asked, “what was your favourite subject in school?”</p><p>“Geography, I guess.” He had liked memorizing all the different planets and their biospheres.</p><p>“I bet your school was pretty different than mine though.”</p><p>“Yeah, probably.”</p><p>“What’s it like on Kamino?”</p><p>“Hm. It rains a lot.”</p><p>And they talked like this for the rest of the way. </p>
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<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Much to Anya’s disappointment, it was her mother who opened the door, and she didn’t even blink at the sight of a clone trooper in her doorway.  Unflappable as always, she took everything in stride and even invited the clone over for dinner.</p><p>Anya wished she could have seen <em>his </em>expression at that, but it was still covered by the helmet.</p><p>He couldn’t keep the surprise out of his voice though, and he stammered awkwardly and tried to excuse himself. But her mother wouldn’t take no for an answer.</p><p>“Oh no no no,” her mother insisted, “It is absolutely no trouble! I’ve made so many cabbage rolls, we can’t possibly eat them all. You can’t let them go to waste! Please, come in, even if it’s just for a little bit.”</p><p>“Yes, won’t you?” said Anya, and under their joint pressure Egghead finally relented.</p><p>He stepped hesitantly into their house. He hovered by the door as Anya put away her schoolbag, then took off his boots after watching Anya take of hers. He took his helmet off too, finally, although he kept it in his hands. His eyes kept wandering around the house, only to snap forward resolutely when Anya turned to look at him.</p><p>“You can come in, you know,” said Anya, when he didn’t move from the doorstep. She led him to the living room and he followed her carefully, as if the room was made out of glass and he would break something with the wrong touch. She sat down on the sofa and had to gesture for Egghead to do the same. He seemed surprised when he was swallowed by the sofa’s ample cushions. Anya tried not to giggle as he floundered into a more respectable position. So this was their brave soldier of the republic!</p><p>“Anya, can you set the table please?” her mother called from the kitchen.</p><p>“Ugh, alright,” she said, and stood up. Normally they didn’t bother setting the table. But when they had guests, her mother insisted that everything had to be ~super fancy~, with special silverware and everything.</p><p>“I’ll be back in a few minutes,” she said to Egghead, “Just stay here.”</p><p>He nodded, a little uncertainly, and turned to examine a nearby bookshelf. He seemed fascinated by all the odds and ends they had collected on it, and to Anya’s slight embarrassment was staring intently at an old picture of a flower she had drawn on a rock in 5<sup>th</sup> grade. Why her mother had kept it was beyond her.</p><p>“Hey mom when’s – uuuuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.”</p><p>Anya dropped the silverware on the table and rushed back to the living room just in time to see Vaska’s incredulous expression.</p><p>HA! It was everything she had imagined!</p><p>“Who are –  um… wha – ?” he was stuttering. She struggled to contain her laughter, then moved to help poor Egghead, who looked almost as confused as Vaska did.</p><p>“Hey Vaska!” she said, “This is my friend, Egghead. We met in the library. And this is Vaska, my brother.”</p><p>“Um… hello,” said Egghead, but Vaska ignored him.</p><p>“You can’t be serious,” he said flatly. He stared at Anya. “Is he staying for dinner?”</p><p>“Of course,” said their mother, appearing suddenly in the living room, “We can’t let him go home hungry, can we? Vaska, go get your father. The food’s ready.”</p><p>When their father found out that there was a clone visiting, he was over the moon.</p><p>“What an honour!” he said, shaking Egghead’s hand vigorously. “Thank you sir, for your honourable service.”</p><p>By now Anya had finished setting the table and they had all settled into their seats. Egghead had put his helmet beneath his chair, and was looking a little overwhelmed at the food spread out before him. Her mom always cooked to an excess, so that they could eat the leftovers for lunch the next day.</p><p>“So what battalion do you serve with?” said her father as he spooned mashed potatoes onto his plate. Egghead watched as everyone helped themselves to the food on the table and hesitantly took a cabbage roll.</p><p>“Oh you’ve got to take more than that,” said Anya’s mom, and started heaping generous helpings of everything onto his plate.</p><p>“The 208<sup>th</sup> sir,” he finally answered, watching helplessly as his plate grew taller and taller.</p><p>“I see! That’s under General *, isn’t it?”</p><p>“Yes sir.”</p><p>“So you served in the ** campaign did you?”</p><p>“Yes I did sir.”</p><p>“Excellent work. We needed that victory. Now tell me - ”</p><p>But Anya’s mom interrupted them with a heavy sigh, “Oh please,” she said, “Can we talk about something other than war? I’m sure Egghead here has already had more than his fair share of it.”</p><p> “Is his name really Egghead?” asked Vaska, “What kind of name is that? And besides, I read that clones don’t even have names.”</p><p>“Why don’t you ask <em>him</em> that?” his mom reprimanded.</p><p>“It’s just a nickname,” shrugged Egghead, “My official designation is CT – 8342. You can use that if you prefer.”</p><p>“Doesn’t really roll of the tongue now does it?” their dad commented. Since war was off the table, he moved on to his next favourite topic: his children’s education.</p><p>“Anya, how was school today?”</p><p>“Good!” she said, “I finished my first draft for my literature essay.”</p><p>“The one for ‘Of Womprats and Wookies’ right?” her mom asked, “I remember we had to read that back when I was in school. Oooh, the ending made me cry.”</p><p>“That’s the one where the guy shoots the guy, isn’t it?” said Vaska, “I never understood why he did that.”</p><p>“It was to save him! From the cruelty of society! And now you’ve spoiled the ending,” Anya complained, “Sorry Egghead. Have you read it?”</p><p>“Well, no. But I wasn’t exactly planning to.”</p><p>“There are better stories,” agreed Anya, “So what sort of books did <em>you </em>have to read in school?”</p><p>“Uh… Weapon manuals? Battle strategies, geography, tactics, stuff like that.”</p><p>“Yes, but what about fiction?”</p><p>“We don’t read fiction. It’s a waste of time to read something that isn’t even real.”</p><p>“A <em>waste of time</em>?!”</p><p>Vaska snorted. “See, I told you that clones don’t read.”</p><p> “Aw, shut up!”</p><p>Their mother glared at them both and they fell silent. Anya dug into her cabbage roll, furious that her brother had been right after all. A waste of time?! No way! She felt betrayed.</p><p>“Uh, the food is really good,” said Egghead into the silence. Anya had to admit it was impressive that he had managed to plow through the enormous mountain of food her mother had lavished upon him. His plate was almost empty. But… a waste of time?</p><p>“Sure beats ration bars, doesn’t it?” said Anya’s dad, and his wife beamed with pleasure and tried to convince Egghead to have seconds.</p><p>But Anya was still annoyed, and took it out on Vaska.</p><p>“Sooo, Vaska?” she said, “You find a job yet?”</p><p>Vaska glared at her. He hated talking about his future and Anya knew it.  </p><p>Vaska had graduated from * University and despite having numerous interviews, he was still, at the moment, unemployed. Anya suspected the reason he no one would hire him was because of his rotten personality, but her mom said that “his heart wasn’t really in it” whatever that meant. Nowadays, he spent most of his time in his room making incredibly detailed holographic models of spaceships.</p><p>“No,” he was forced to admit.</p><p>“You know,” their dad said, “I was talking to Jian from hardware today, and she said they’re always looking for talented people to help work on the fastlinks.”</p><p>“I’m in software Dad, not hardware.”</p><p>“I know, I know. Still, it’s a fascinating topic.”</p><p>“I work at a networking company,” he added when he noticed that Egghead was looking confused, “And we’ve been working on these new fastlinks to help route bits through interdimensional space. Really fascinating stuff. Definitely worth looking into if you have the opportunity.”</p><p>They discussed the finer details of HP (holonet protocol) for some time, then Anya’s mom shared the latest gossip from the retirement home where she worked. Apparently the staff had been fruitlessly striving to confound one of the little old ladies at puzzles the last few days. They kept putting out harder and harder ones, but no matter how many pieces it had she would always have it finished in mere hours. This somehow led to a discussion on card games, which even more inexplicably led to a conversation on whether water was wet.</p><p>“Look,” said Egghead, “I’m from Kamino, I <em>know</em> what wet is!”</p><p>“Water isn’t wet!” maintained Vaska, “How can I make this any clearer?! Wet means it’s covered with liquid, but the liquid itself isn’t wet!”</p><p>“What the kriff?! That makes no kriffin’ sense!” </p><p>He noticed Anya’s parents looking at him, and he remembered abruptly where he was. “Uh I mean…”</p><p>Anya laughed, and forgave him of everything. It wasn’t his fault he hadn’t read fiction. Besides, it probably <em>was</em> a waste of time when you’re a soldier. The more they talked, the more she realized how different his life had been. He was so innocent in some ways, and so hardened in other ways. He hadn’t even known what a jigsaw puzzle was.</p><p>Everyone had finished eating by now, but they kept talking just for the fun of it. They meandered through topic after topic, settling briefly on Anya’s upcoming band recital.</p><p>“Anya’s school has one of the best music programs in the prefecture,” her mom was saying, “I’ve been to all their concerts and they’re extraordinary!”</p><p>“Wow,” said Egghead, “Wish I could hear it.”</p><p>“Why not?” said Anya, “I’d love it if you could come! Are you free next week?”</p><p>He looked at her funny, and it gave her a strange sense of déjà vu because it was almost the same look he had given her almost two days ago now, when she had asked him if he was a clone. Back then, she hadn’t known him at all. Now, she felt as if she had known him for longer than she had.</p><p>“I can’t,” he said, “We’re leaving tomorrow.”</p><p>Of course. Of course he would have to go. Some part of her had always known this. He couldn’t stay here. What would he even do? He had been born and bred to fight, to go off into distant worlds and fight for the Republic. And yet she didn’t even know <em>why </em>they were fighting. Why he had to go.</p><p> “Where to?” asked her father, and he gave the name of some distant outer rim system Anya had never even heard of.</p><p> “When will you be back?” she asked, and he looked away.</p><p>“I don’t know.”</p><p>Maybe that was an unfair question. It wasn’t under his control. But the selfish part of her wanted to know, wanted him to promise that someday he would be back, that this wasn’t the end. Suddenly she remembered the book she had read in literature class, about the woman with cancer who knew that she would die. She had thought the book gloomy and pretentious and had struggled with it during class. But now she thought she maybe understood.</p><p>They only had today.</p><p>“I know!” she said, “If you can’t come to my concert, then I’ll just play for you now!”</p><p>Her mom thought this was a great idea. “And Vaska, you can play the flute for us!”</p><p>“I haven’t played that in <em>years</em>, mom!” Vaska complained.</p><p>“But you were so good in high school!”</p><p>Anya left their bickering behind as she went up to her room to get her kloo horn. She shuffled through her sheet music, trying to think which one would work best for a solo. Her gaze rested on her bookshelf briefly, and an idea occurred to her. It took her a few moments, but she finally gathered everything together. She bounded down the stairs.</p><p>Her mom had managed to convince Vaska that if he wasn’t going to play a song, he should at least show off some of the holographic ship models that he had been working on.</p><p>“That’s really cool,” Egghead was saying, studying the enormous hologram from various angles, “Is this a V-18 Torrent starfighter?”</p><p>“Yeah,” said Vaska, “Have you been on one?”</p><p>“A few times… Wow, it really brings me back.”</p><p>They kept talking about starfighters. Anya had never seen her brother so animated before. She hovered there in the corner not saying anything, listening with fascination, not wanting to interrupt.</p><p>But then Egghead’s commlink beeped. He moved to the corner and discussed something underneath his breath. The voice that came out of the commlink sounded just like he did.</p><p>“I need to get back soon,” he apologized to the family. “Maybe just… play a few songs, and then I have to go. Sorry.”</p><p>So Anya played for him. She tried to make it the best that she could for him. She messed up a few times, but nobody seemed to mind. She put in all the sorrow and all the joy from the last few hours into her performance.</p><p>“Wow,” said Egghead, when she was finished. She smiled and bowed.</p><p>Things seemed to move quickly after that. They said goodbye. Egghead thanked her mother for the food, and her mother thanked him for being there. Even Vaska seemed reluctant to see him go. Her father shook his hand again enthusiastically. Gradually they moved toward the door. He put on his boots and his helmet. Now he looked like the model soldier. Off to fight for freedom. Like something out of a poster.</p><p>“Wait!” said Anya, just before he left, “I…I have to give you something.” He turned back and she held out her paperback copies of The C* Triology. “You should read it,” she said, “It’s really good.”</p><p>He took it, and maybe he smiled under his helmet but she couldn’t tell. And then he was gone.</p>
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<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>There was a deep boom, and an instant later mud and rock splattered over Egghead and he threw himself to the ground, his ears ringing. He waited until the world came into focus again, but the world itself was unfocused, a whirling mass of shouts and blaster fire and bodies moving every which way. Every few minutes the ground itself would shake, thrown off balance by heavy artillery. Someone groaned behind him, and he turned to see Indie lying on the ground, clutching a broken stump of a leg. Egghead crawled towards him, but Merrick was already there, trying to staunch the bleeding. He saw Egghead and called out to him.  </p><p>“You okay?” he said.</p><p>“Yeah.”</p><p>“Then keep moving,” he said.</p><p>So he kept moving. He ducked behind rocks and trees and shot at the battle droids. Even when he closed his eyes, resting briefly behind his cover, he could see the battle droids. They were always there, moving towards them. He had to stop them. So he moved and he shot. Moved and shot. He didn’t even notice when the artillery stopped – the fort had been taken, but the battle on the ground raged on.</p><p>He didn’t know whether hours or minutes or seconds had passed, but slowly, they drove away the infantry and came up against the fort.</p><p>They had won.</p><p>They were on some planet in the Outer Rim, a scraggly savannah with strange ropey trees. The world seemed tinged by an orange film and the clouds burned pink and heavy in a fiery sky. That evening, after he had finished helping set up the camp, Egghead went off to a solitary spot by the nearby river, taking in the strangeness of the stratosphere. Across the muddy brown river was the ground they would have to take tomorrow, and behind it was the ground they had already taken, shredded and pock-marked by gunfire and the march of a thousand boots.</p><p>Egghead leaned back and continued reading. He was on to the second book of the trilogy now.</p><p>He had never read anything like this before. It was about a family, living on a mid-world planet long before the war had ever begun. They were not rich but not poor either. Their days passed banally – they went to work, fell in love, got caught up in politics, they suffered and laughed and dreamed of a better tomorrow. He had never imagined such a life could exist. Sometimes he couldn’t believe that such a life was possible – only, he had experienced it himself, back on Coruscant.</p><p>An ordinary life. Someday, when the war was over… would he have a life like that?</p><p>The light was growing dim, and he returned to their campsite. He found Hammer back in their sleeping quarters, polishing his armour like he did when he was worried about something.</p><p>“Have you seen Merrick?” Hammer asked, “I haven’t seen him all evening.”</p><p>“No… I last saw him with Indie.”</p><p>“Indie’s in the medbay. I talked to him earlier. Lost his leg. But he’ll probably live.”</p><p>“That’s good,” said Egghead, and they both ignored how lame it sounded. It wasn’t good at all. But what else could you say?</p><p>Des came in later and confirmed that Merrick was dead.</p><p>“Blaster fire,” he reported, “Shot in the chest.”</p><p>He leaned against his sleeping pod, looking tired and resigned. He cast his gaze around the tent, at Hammer who was being uncharacteristically quiet and furiously polishing his helmet for the third time that night, at Magnet who was sleeping, and finally his eyes landed on the book that Egghead had just put aside.</p><p>“This is that book you’re always reading huh,” said Des, “S* Street? What’s it about?”</p><p>Egghead did his best to explain. “It’s a trilogy,” he finished, “You can borrow the first one if you want.”</p><p>“Yeah, maybe I will.”</p><p>They fell silent, and it stretched for an instant too long. Des sighed again, and Egghead looked at Hammer, who had said nothing during this entire exchange. Hammer hated the quiet. So why wasn’t he saying anything? He had been so close to Merrick.</p><p>Merrick would know what to say. Wiki would probably know what to say too. But neither of them were here right now. Only him.  </p><p>“Hey Hammer,” he called, “Is water’s wet?”</p><p>“What?” said his brother, looking up from where he had almost rubbed a hole into his armour, “Of course water’s wet.”</p><p>“No it’s not,” Egghead insisted, “Water <em>makes</em> things wet.”</p><p>“Exactly.”</p><p>“So it’s not wet.”</p><p>“What? How is it not wet?”</p><p>Ash came in later, a bandage around his torso, and the argument started all over again. Egghead smiled as Hammer became loud and boisterous again, arguing enthusiastically about pointless things.</p><p>The good mood lasted until their increasingly passionate debate accidently woke up Magnet who told them to shut up and go to bed already, and the energy in the room dissipated. They looked at each other and realized how tired they all looked. They had been fighting for days. They had fought for so long, and all they had managed to do was to capture one measly fort. There was still an entire planet left to go.</p><p>“Well,” said Ash, “Better get some rest. We’ll be back at it again tomorrow.”</p><p>But Des just sat there.</p><p>“Is this ever going to end?” he said quietly. Nobody said anything after that. It was one of those things you weren’t really supposed to say, the kind of thing that you ignore and try to pretend didn’t happen. They avoided each others gazes and stared grimly at the floor.</p><p>“It doesn’t matter,” said Hammer finally, “I want to blast those clankers until the end of time. That’ll show them. Tomorrow, I’m going to get them good. For Merrick.”</p><p>“But it’s gotta end,” said Ash, “Right? Someday it’s gotta end.”</p><p>“And… then…?” someone said.</p><p>“And… and then, we’ll all move to some distant planet and have our own homes,” said Egghead slowly. They all turned to look at him, their faces dark and shadowed in the dim lamplight.</p><p>“There won’t be anyone shooting at us and we can do whatever we want all day long. We’ll have our own gardens and fill our houses with things that are beautiful but have no purpose, like rocks painted with flowers. And then we’ll grow old and wrinkled and do jigsaw puzzles all day. Just because we can.”</p><p>A few months ago, he would not have said this. He could not have thought so, not having the words or experience to articulate such a life. But now he had seen a world outside of war. And he dreamed of a house with sofas so soft you could sink into it, with a table overflowing with food and laughter. And when he closed his eyes, he could imagine those things, and suddenly all this, all this war and fighting seemed only temporary.</p><p>He had to believe that it was temporary, that there was a future out there worth fighting for.</p>
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<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>1 year later</p><p> </p><p>“Oh great,” Anya heard Vaska saying from the front door, “This is getting out of hand. Now there are <em>two</em> of them.”</p><p>He called her name, and she hurried downstairs, wondering if the package she ordered had arrived. But it was something else entirely.</p><p>“Oh!” she said, when she saw the two clone troopers at her door, not able to think of anything else to say. They looked just like <em>him</em> but was it…? Her eyes swept over them, trying to tell them apart. They had different hair-styles. One had very short hair with patterns cut into it. The other looked just like <em>he</em> did, but also… not. There was something about him that seemed different somehow, although she couldn’t exactly say what.</p><p>Vaska had apparently already invited them inside, because they were taking off their boots. A glint of metal came from the ankle of the one with patterned hair, and Anya couldn’t help but stare at it. He noticed and grinned. “It’s a prosthetic,” he said, “Cool, isn’t it?”</p><p>“What happened?”</p><p>“Well, it’s a funny story, actually. Okay, first of all, there was this GIANT shark.“</p><p>“He’s just messing with you,” said the other clone, rolling his eyes the story got increasingly ridiculous.</p><p>Anya led them to the living room. Vaska locked up the front door and trailed behind them. By now, he had finally found a job and was working at a virtual reality company.</p><p>“Hey,” he said, pointing at a silhouette on the one clone’s armour, “That design. Is that…”</p><p>“It’s the Indefatigable!” said the clone, “The most beautiful starship in the galaxy!”</p><p>“I thought so,” said Vaska, “Yep, it’s a beauty all right.”</p><p>Anya rolled her eyes. “Can we talk about this later?” she said.</p><p>“Right,” said the other clone, “Let’s… just… be quick. My name is Des.”</p><p>“And I’m Indie. After the Indefatigable,” he added.</p><p>They were all silent. The two siblings eyes met briefly, but Vaska looked away first.</p><p>“I’ll uh…,” said Vaska, “I’ll leave you guys to it…” He went up to his room. They waited until they heard his door slam shut above them, then Des held something out to Anya.</p><p>“These are yours. We thought… maybe we should return them.”</p><p>They were torn and covered in mud and other stains, but Anya knew right away what they were.</p><p>“I…” said Anya, “I don’t want them.”</p><p>“Okay,” said Des, “That’s fine. Well, take this at least. It was stuck in the pages. I think it’s for you.”</p><p>He handed her a piece of paper and she took it with trembling hands. She glanced at it briefly, at the top where her name was written in large blocky letters, and then folded it again and put it in her pocket.</p><p>“So we get to keep the books?” said Indie, “That’s a relief.”</p><p>His brother rolled his eyes and hit him on the back of the head.</p><p>Anya looked at the two of them, trying to register what he had said.</p><p>“Oh?” she asked, “Have you read them?”</p><p>“Yeah!” said Indie, “They were really interesting!”</p><p>Des nodded. “A lot of the boys have read them now. We’re really grateful.”</p><p>“Seriously?” she laughed, “Well I mean, it’s not like I’m the one who wrote it.”</p><p>“Still, it gave us something to do on long trips through hyperspace.”</p><p>“Look at this,” said Indie, and showed her a woven bracelet around his wrist, “Just like F*’s. I got it at the marketplace in M*”</p><p>“The natives there made carpets just like the family in the book,” added Des, “They were really beautiful.”</p><p>They talked more about the book, and Anya was surprised at the depth of their dedication to it. Even her friends hadn’t read the whole series three or four times each as apparently all the clones had.</p><p>“Ash says that K* was stupid to fall in love with A* in the first place, but<em> I</em> think that it was romantic,” said Indie, like someone who was repeated a long and worn out argument, “So tell me – what do<em> you</em> think?”</p><p>“I don’t know,” said Anya, “I think he was too much of a dreamer – she never could have been the person that he wanted her to be. But it was important to his growth, in any case.”</p><p>“How so?” asked Des, “I always thought he was just stupid.”</p><p>As the afternoon dragged on, Anya felt as if she were leading a book club. They enthusiastically discussed the novels, and Anya even ended up lending them several books with similar themes. Finally, they remembered that their visit was supposed to have been short. They thanked her for the good discussion and started to head out. They were just about to leave when Anya faltered.</p><p>“Can you… can you tell me what happened?” she asked. The two clones looked at each other, something unspoken passing between them.  </p><p>And then they told her.</p>
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